The present invention relates to electronic apparatuses having a dictionary function, such as an electronic dictionary and a personal computer.
There has conventionally been provided a variety of electronic dictionaries.
For example, an electronic dictionary is known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 6-83860, which stores dictionary information such as selectively retrieved English words and their Japanese equivalents in a storage area, and repeatedly reads and outputs the stored dictionary information. That is, this electronic dictionary is intended to improve the memory efficiency and calling speed by storing words selected from the electronic dictionary as well as a part or all of meanings of each of the words in an storage area and repetitively retrieving the same from the storage area.
The above electronic dictionary, however, does not have a function of making a user to designate, for each word, different display modes in which equivalents in a target language to a word in a source language are displayed. In other words, in the conventional electronic dictionary, a same display mode is used for all the words. Generally speaking, however, preferable display modes should differ depending on the learning stage of each user. For example, for certain words of which the meanings are almost known to a user, a list of equivalents to the words would be sufficient for the user. On the other hand, for words that are hard for a user to remember, display of equivalents in a detailed manner would be necessary. There may be cases in which a word is hard for a user to use so that the user wishes to have examples (example sentences and phrases) of the word or explanation or commentary about the word preferentially displayed. Unfortunately, however, the prior art electronic dictionary cannot sufficiently cope with these cases.
Furthermore, according to the prior art electronic dictionary, the order in which equivalents to a word are sequentially displayed conforms either to the content of a dictionary which was used as a basis of the electronic dictionary, or to specified rules such as parts of speech, frequency of use, degree of importance, etc. of each word. However, it is possible that a user wishes an equivalent to a word to precede the other equivalents to the word on a display screen. It is also possible that with regard to each word, a user has completely memorized equivalents and does not wish them to be displayed. The prior art electronic dictionary, however, does not fail to display even equivalents which are not wished to be displayed. As a result, disadvantageously, with the conventional electronic dictionary, the user cannot speedily get an equivalent that the user really needs from all the equivalents.
An object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problems and provide a user-friendly electronic apparatus having a dictionary function which has different display modes and allows a user to designate a desired display mode for each word according to the purpose of the user, which is capable of changing the order in which display items are arranged every word, and which also allows a user to designate non-display of unnecessary items that should disappear from a display screen.
In order to accomplish the object, an electronic apparatus having a dictionary function according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises:
a display section;
a storage section for storing a display format for each of words;
a format key for making the storage section store a currently used display format; and
a display processing functional section for performing a display processing to make the display section display a retrieved word and pieces of information associated therewith in a corresponding display format stored in the storage section.
With this arrangement, if the currently used display format for a certain word on display is a display format desired by a user, the user depresses the format key in that state, thereby storing the display format in the storage section. Therefore, upon retrieval of the word next time, the word and its associated information will be displayed in the format stored in the storage section.
An electronic apparatus having a dictionary function according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises:
a display section;
a storage section for storing, for each of words, priorities according which pieces of information associated with a word are to be displayed by the display section;
a priority key for designating priorities; and
a display processing functional section for performing a display processing to make the display section display pieces of information associated with a retrieved word in the order of priorities stored in the storage section.
With this arrangement, if a user scrolls the currently displayed information and depresses the priority key in a state in which the display section is displaying a piece of information (e.g., a third equivalent to the retrieved word) that the user wishes to be displayed in preference, then designation information for giving priority for display to the piece of information (the third equivalent) over the other pieces of information is stored in the storage section. Therefore, at the next time of retrieval of the same word, of all the equivalents to the word, the third equivalent, for example, will be displayed in the first place according to the designation information stored in the storage section.
An electronic apparatus having a dictionary function according to a third aspect of the present invention comprises:
a display section;
a storage section for storing, for each of words, display levels at which pieces of information associated with each word are to be displayed;
a key for designating a display level for a word; and
a display processing functional section for performing a display processing to make the display section display a retrieved word and pieces of information associated therewith at a corresponding display level stored in the storage section.
The term xe2x80x9cdisplay levelxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9clevelxe2x80x9d used herein, which is also referred to as xe2x80x9cdepthxe2x80x9d herein, should be understood as follows. A first screen displaying equivalents which normally appears at the first call is at Level 0, for example. A second screen which appears when designating, for example, an item xe2x80x9cexamplexe2x80x9d on the first screen, is at Level 1, for example. The screen at Level 1 displays example sentences and phrases of the retrieved word. A next screen derived from the second screen is at Level 2. That is, mutually linked screens consisting of a basis screen and the subordinate screens are serially opened from one screen to next, and the order in which these screens are called and opened is expressed by numbers 0, 1, 2, . . . , and those numbers 0, 1, 2, . . . are herein defined as the xe2x80x9cdisplay levelsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdepthsxe2x80x9d.
The display levels may be assigned to each of pieces of information (such as equivalents, examples, etc.) associated with a word. For example, the user may designate an item name xe2x80x9cexamplexe2x80x9d displayed on the basis screen (Level 0) which appears at the first call, to have example sentences and phrases (Level 1) displayed on the next screen. In this case, if the user depresses the key for designating a display level while the example sentences and phrases are displayed, then the display level for the example sentences and phrases will be changed from Level 1 to Level 0 so as to be preferentially displayed. By this operation, the example sentences and phrases, which are information having its display level changed to 0, will be displayed on the first screen at the next time of retrieval of the relevant word.
An electronic apparatus having a dictionary function according to a fourth aspect of the present invention comprises:
a display section;
a storage section for storing, for each of words, items not to be displayed;
a non-display key for designating an item not to be displayed; and
a display processing functional section for performing a display processing to make the display section display items other than the items not to be displayed stored in the storage section.
With this arrangement, if a user does not need display of a certain item which is currently displayed, then the user may depress the non-display key in this state, thereby making the storage section store information on the item. Then, the item, stored in the storage section, will not be displayed at the next retrieval of the relevant word.
The electronic apparatus according to any of the first, second, third and fourth aspects may further comprise a normal display key for temporarily bring the apparatus into a normal display mode. In this case, the display processing functional section is configured so as to change a current screen of the display section to a screen according to the normal display mode when the normal display key is operated during a certain display mode other than the normal display mode, and to restore the certain display mode upon cancellation of the normal display mode.
With this arrangement, switching between the normal display mode and a special display mode designated by the user can be executed at any time when desired.
The term xe2x80x9cnormal display modexe2x80x9d herein refers to a display mode according to initial settings for the apparatus.
Furthermore, when the electronic apparatus has the normal display key, the display processing functional section may be configured so as to make the screen of the display section contain a symbol indicating that a current display mode is not the normal display mode while the apparatus is not assuming the normal display mode. With this arrangement, the user can definitely distinguish whether the current display mode is the normal display or not.